New Life
by SylvaViscera
Summary: When Reilly Claire dies, she doesn't quite expect to be granted a second chance. And neither does she expect that second chance to be in the Pokemon world, a place she knew as fiction in her old world. She doesn't quite expect to be thrown in the middle of the Aqua/Magma situation either. First FanFic, please review! Rated T for unlady-like swearing and coarse language all around
1. Oh hey, look, I died

"And that's why you have to come over!" Yokui shouted at me over the phone. Apparently she had found a new anime that I 'would just love!' and 'was the best thing since Fairy Tail!'

"Fine, Kui. I'll be right over. Let me tell my mom and get my stuff." She squealed happily before I hung up the phone. I sighed and went downstairs.

Mom had gotten home and found me sweeping up lamp fragments and Leah screaming behind the door I had barricaded. She had broken Mom's favorite lamp when she refused to play with one of my softballs outside. Needless to say I chased her through our house until she rushed into her room and I barricaded the door with a chair and the hall table.

Mom came home and saw the chaos and immediately blamed me for it. Leah was a perfect little angel in her eyes, Leah couldn't do anything wrong. Bunch of bullshit. Ever since we moved to Japan, life has been tedious at best. With no dad to vent to and no mom I could trust, I couldn't wait until I could go to college.

I found my mom in the kitchen, doing dishes from tonight's dinner. I didn't want to scare her, so I didn't pad down the stairs silently like I had a habit of doing. She looked back at me and sighed.

"Yokui call?" she asked. I nodded. Mom sighed again and waved a hand towards the door.

"If she weren't your only friend I'd keep you here," she said, like it was my fault most girls at that school were complete bitches. I mumbled something about being home tomorrow and walked out the front door.

Lord, if my mother could become any more of a control freak, I'd have to move out. Considering I could totally do that in a couple years, I wasn't having many second thoughts about it. Leah was the only one there to keep me company other than Mom. I was going insane in that house.

Now, I was in no means a deprived or abused kid, but I wasn't very happy either. I pretty much took care of Leah. I kept the house clean. I used to have a secret bank account so my mom couldn't take the money I earned at my part-time job in the States. I might as well have been living in my own house for all I did at the age of sixteen.

I hitched my bag higher on my shoulder and turned left. If I could just convince my mom I was a mature, young adult, maybe she'd stop treating me like a child. But I'd tried that. She seemed determined not to listen to reason. If only I could make her see that I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself. If only I could get her to stop treating me like a child.

I looked around at the houses. I should have arrived at Yokui's by now. I scanned the street signs. None of the characters looked familiar. I knew Yokui's street had the character that looked like a tall post next to a short something-or-other that looked like it was shining… or on fire, plus another between that and one that looked like a Y. Sakura Street was the name. I went back the way I came and scolded myself for daydreaming.

But I didn't know where I was now. Everything looked different in the dark. I didn't recognize any of the houses or any of the signs in the moonlight. I had even forgotten the street I turned off of to get as lost as I was. It looked like I had reached the edge of the city. But I couldn't have walked that far, could I? I heard a train whistle in the distance… Apparently I could have walked that far.

"Kawaii tori o mite!" I heard a boy call out.

"Sukoshi tori," another voice called. I spun around to find five boys walking up the street, towards me. I only understood 'kawaii' and 'sukoshi', but they didn't sound like compliments.

"Amerikahitodesu!" one of the boys shouted. They all laughed.

"I'd appreciate if you'd speak English. I know you can." They stopped laughing and looked at me with peculiar faces. The lead boy, Hakuro, grinned widely and sauntered up to me, running his fingers through what little black hair he had.

"Yes, but where's the fun in that, eh American? Your face is so cute when it's confused." I took a step back. Had he not heard of personal space?

"I have a name, baka." Hakuro laughed.

"Not one important enough for me to know, American." I glared up at the boy, straight into his dark eyes. No schoolboy was going to intimidate me when I could probably deck him and run.

"So, little bird, what are you doing out so late?" One of Hakuro's friends asked. I honestly couldn't remember his name, but I remembered his unusually bright red hair. I was almost sure he dyed it, but not absolutely positive.

"What's it to you? Trying to ask me on a date?" A couple of the boys snickered, but Hakuro silenced them with a look.

"Not if you were the last girl on Earth," Red replied. Hakuro glared harder at him, then turned his gaze back to me.

"Sayuri told me you called her a fat cow today. Now, normally I would agree, but she's my little sister. I can't have the foreigner insulting my sister and getting away with it." He stuck his hand in his pocket and took a step towards me. I backed away, but he kept coming forward. My back hit the brick wall of a building. Hakuro slammed his palm into the brick next to my head. "So, American, let's see if your blood is as foreign as you."

I saw the flicker of a switchblade in Hakuro's hand. My heart started hammering against the restraint of my chest, pounding louder than the drums at a rock concert. Hakuro's grin mutated into a horror the Cheshire would wince at. His friends all mumbled vaguely and shifted their feet.

"Hakuro, this is not going to go down well," one said, the one with the wire glasses. He was one of the smartest boys in the school and I often asked him for notes. Rin, that was his name. What was he doing with Hakuro? Hakuro flicked the tip of the blade in his direction.

"Don't worry about it. You won't get in trouble if you keep your mouth shut." When he turned his face back to me, I lashed out and decked him. He yelped and jerked back, allowing me just enough room to wiggle out and start running down the street. Five sets of hammering feet chased after me and five sets of hammering feet my heart echoed in my chest.

I used to run a lot back in America. When we moved here to Japan, I quit Track and settled for nothing. My new school didn't have much in the way of soccer or softball… go figure… so I just didn't play any more sports. But my running skills had deteriorated in my laziness. My breath was coming in ragged and leaving in gasps.

Something hit my back, right between my shoulder blades, and I fell flat on my face. I didn't have time to scramble to my feet before Hakuro's foot made an introduction to my kidney. He rolled me over on my back and sat his fat ass on my hips.

"You know, American, if you'd just keep your mouth shut, you wouldn't be in this situation." Hakuro flicked open the switchblade again and tapped my nose with it. I went to punch him again, but Red-Hair grabbed my arms, pinning them to the concrete. "Where should we start? Hideki?"

"I like her face, let's mess that up first," the broad boy said. I knew Hideki from math class. He was always falling asleep and being a pain in the ass for everyone else. More than a few times our classmates tried to see how many pencils they could stick in his ragged brown hair before he woke up from one of his naps.

"And I like your thinking, Hideki. Let's start with her face." Hakuro gripped the blade in his fist and brought it close to my face. I panicked and squirmed. His fingers slipped and he gouged my cheekbone. I cried out from the pain but he stuffed his hand over my mouth. "We can't have you waking the neighbors, now can we?"

The look in his eyes wasn't just revenge. It looked like he wanted to carve me into bits and burn the pieces. The look in his eyes was pure murder. I didn't know if any of his so called 'friends' knew he was so unbalanced, but they couldn't be okay with this! I knew Rin wasn't, but Hideki and the red haired boy were just going along with it. The other one just stood there, like a shadow among the rest. He said nothing and did nothing, almost like he wasn't even there. He just stared at me with his piercing blue eyes silently.

Hakuro slashed the same cheek again, adding another stripe of pain that crossed over the first. I screamed against his hand, but it muffled anything I could try to yell. Rin's face turned green as he saw the blood spilling from my face. I hoped his Karma would fuck him over later. Since neither of the two onlookers would do anything, I took it in my own hands… err, feet.

I kicked up, thanking all my childhood years of gymnastics for the flexibility, and hit Hakuro straight in the back of his head. His hands flailed as he lost his balance and pitched forward. The hand with the knife went straight down, sending piercing pain through my chest just under my shoulder.

Everything screamed out in pain and I did the same. Hakuro hopped off and dropped the knife. Hideki let go of my arms and followed Hakuro. I felt numb now, like everything was detaching from me. All of my energy was just draining away. I tried pulling myself up, but the moment I moved my left arm, the piercing pain shot through my whole left shoulder. I fell and landed in a puddle of something sticky. I coughed, feeling the air going the same place as my energy.

"You fucked this up big time," Hideki said. I barely heard him over the heartbeat in my ears.

"Shut up and grab my knife!" Hakuro responded as he turned tail and ran with the rest of his friends. The heartbeat in my ears got louder and louder as the air in my lungs dwindled away. I don't know when, but I realized I was dying. Hakuro had stabbed my heart and now I was dying in a pool of my own blood. I coughed and tried to make my lungs work again. I couldn't die. Not now. I still had to go to college and have my own family.

My heart beat erratically in my ears. It wasn't going to last much longer. I tried reaching into my bag for my phone. Yokui was on speed dial. If I could. If I could just. My numb fingers found the phone, but they weren't working right. They were pressing random buttons. Something finally went right and the phone starting ringing.

Each second felt like an eternity, an eternity marked by each thundering beat of my failing heart. Each ring of the phone was drowned in my ears by my heart, it seemed like it wanted me to know I was dying so very slowly.

"Hello? Hello…?" someone finally answered. It sounded like Yokui. But it was so hard to breathe, so hard to even get the air in my lungs so I could tell her to get help. "Who is this?"

"Help," I said before my heart beat one last time, plunging me into endless darkness.

But then something weird happened. I kept waiting for something to drag my soul away to Heaven, or Hell or reincarnation of whatever happened when you died. But nothing happened. I was conscious, but everything was black and silent. I sat there and wondered what was happening. _Could this be Limbo? Am I stuck here because I didn't do anything really good or really bad?_

To be honest, I was always curious about what happened after death. Those old lines about seeing a light and family members always seemed to ring hollow in my mind. Here was my chance to see what happened and nothing was happening. Well this sucked…

"Ah! There you are!" a voice interrupted my out-of-body sulking. I tried to look around and see who it was, but then again… detached soul drifting in endless blackness… didn't quite work out. "Reilly Claire, isn't it?" I tried to respond, but I had no larynx to speak with. The voice giggled like a little girl- something that made me very uncomfortable. "Sorry about that Reilly. Let me fix this."

A bright light flashed, driving away the endless black and filling my vision. When it finally faded enough for me to see, I found I had my body back… or at least _a_ body. It looked like mine, but it was half formed and I could see the rug through my feet. Of course, this didn't quite faze me. I was dead. It stood to reason I was a ghost or whatever. I was actually more surprised that I seemed to be in a familiar living room. And that someone was sitting on the floor by the coffee table.

"Over here Reilly!" she called to me and waved her arm. "I know you're not quite yourself, but just do what comes naturally and it should work." I decided not to have a mental breakdown as I sized up the child-sized girl. Her hair was pink, as in bubblegum pink, and pulled pack into a long and straight ponytail. Her bright blue eyes were large and innocent, but there was something about them that unnerved me. I sat on the floor on the opposite side of the table.

"Where am I?" I asked, sounding like I was nothing more than a passing breeze. I cleared my throat and tried asking again, only to sound the same. The little girl winced and apologized.

"This is the spirit realm. This is where souls go to be reborn, find Elysium, Heaven, Hell, or whatever happens."

"Then why does it look like a cozy living room?" I asked in my nearly nonexistent voice. She shrugged.

"It takes the shape of whatever your fondest memories are," she said. "Is this your home?" So that's why this place seemed so familiar. It was my grandmother's living room. She had died not long after Leah was born. Grandma and I had the best times together at her home. I missed her a lot.

"No," I replied simply, not feeling very open about explaining where it was. The girl frowned, but continued talking anyway in spite of my rudeness.

"Well, you see, I'm here to offer you another choice. Sometimes, when souls' lives are cut short, we like to give them another chance to live longer. And I saw that you did not have many opportunities to be very happy in your short sixteen years of life. So how about it, do you want another chance?" I blinked and hesitated in responding.

_A second chance? A new life? _I thought to myself. _What kind of new life? Would I retain my memories? How about my knowledge? I wouldn't want to be some simpleton in another life._ As if she had read my thoughts, the little girl started talking again.

"You'll retain your memories, that is, if you want. Some souls I offer this deal to would rather forget their past lives and start with a clean slate. I can't promise what your new life will entail, or even if you'll still be a girl, but it is a new life."

"Wait a minute. You can't promise I'll 'even be a girl'? What's that supposed to mean?" Ms. Bubblegum laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head.

"See, the transition from one world to another is a bit, um… unstable. There have been a few genderbending, even species switching, problems in the past. But we've fixed most of those now!" I wanted to hold my head in my hands, but it went right through them. So much for even the impression of being solid.

"So, I can move on and go to wherever souls go when they die, or I can go to a different world with the possibility of not even being the same gender or species for a second chance?" She nodded vigorously, like she was excited I was being skeptical.

"You got it!" she said happily. "So, what's your choice?" I thought about it for a couple minutes.

On one hand, I could go to Heaven or Hell or whatever and finally figure out what happens after death. But on the other… Go see a different world and live out the rest of my life in a new place? I didn't even make it to college. I didn't have a job for more than a year before we moved. I never got the chance to write a book- hell, I never even finished my fanfictions! My followers were going to be so disappointed in me…

Even though I was fascinated with the thought of what happened after death, was I really ready to die for real? Here was a little girl offering me a way out and with nothing hidden either. Was I really ready to die? A cold shiver went down my spine. No. I wasn't ready to die just yet. I would take her offer.

"I think… I think I'll take you up on your offer. But I want to retain my memories. I have a few that I'd like to hang onto, if that's all right." She beamed at me and clapped her hands like the child she resembled.

"Great! We'll send you over right away!" She jumped off the floor and ran to the front door, struggling to open the handle that I knew wouldn't open for her. It used to stick all the time and there was a trick to opening it. I laughed and joined her in the entryway.

"Let me," I told her and grabbed the handle, glad that I didn't go right through it. I started jiggling it back and forth to get the tumblers working. "You know, you never told me who you are, or where this new life will be." She giggled and I threw my shoulder against the door.

"Oh silly, I'm Mew," she answered as a bright light outside the door filled my vision, blocking everything out. I hardly even had time to throw her a look filled with confusion before something pulled me out the door and into the vast, white expanse. The last thing I remember before I blacked out was her innocent smile and the sight of her pink tail waving behind her head.

* * *

**Welcome one and all to my first ever story! I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter and any reviews would be appreciated, especially if they point out grammar mistakes and spelling errors. Please help me become a great writer! **

**About this story: All characters will be OC except the usual Gym Leaders and villains and others who are known in the Pokemon Emerald game. You've already met Reilly, an American that recently moved to Japan before she was killed. (Sorry Reilly) Next chapter you'll be meeting a few more! See you next chapter! ~Sylva**


	2. Oh hey, I'm a Pokemon

_She did not say Mew. No possible way. There is no way she is Mew! Those are games! Manga, anime! They are not real! Then why would she say that's her name? Or is it spelled M-I-E-U, like that thing from _Tales of the Abyss_? But that would be impossible too… Ugh my head hurt…Wait a second, my head? I've got my body back? _

I tried to move around, but I must have been stuck in something, because I would really only wiggle back and forth a bit. It was cramped wherever I had gotten stuck, but I was determined to at least figure out _where_ I was, if not _what_ I was, because I could tell that I was not still human. There was a fifth appendage that I could feel twitching underneath me.

_Okay, this is either really good, or really bad. A: I now have a tail that could be useful in a great many ways or B: I am now something small, fluffy and totally defenseless. I swear if I'm some stupid little kitten stuck in a sidewalk crack… I've got to get out of here!_

I never told you I was afraid of small spaces, did I? Well, I am. It's really my one phobia. Dark? Pfft. Spiders? Just squish 'em. Small spaces? Get me out before I punch a hole in the wall! Which was what I was trying to do right then. Whatever new body I had, it wasn't much in the strength department. But eventually something cracked. Light pierced through the minute cracks, so I continued working at it.

At some point or another, I must have tipped over, because when I finally broke through I was facing the sky. I blinked against the sun after sitting in the dark for so long and climbed out of the egg I had apparently been trapped in. I looked around at my surroundings and found trees and bushes, each vibrantly green like it was a middle of summer. So I hatched from an egg in the middle of a forest… good to know.

There weren't any animals around for me to try and figure out where I was, so I guessed that meant I would have to figure things out on my own. I could do that. I learned a few things from Leah's Girl Scout meetings. But first things first, I had to figure out what I was. I looked down at where my feet would have been.

_Okay, small silver paws, not a bad start. _I wiggled them to make sure they were really mine, and they were, obviously. I patted at the ring of white fur around my neck and watched as it shined in the light. It was really pretty, if completely visible. I wouldn't be blending into the background any time soon… not unless I moved to a northern place full of snow. Next, my tail… I really wasn't sure I even wanted to know…

_Why does that look so familiar? It can't be… no, no, no! I can't believe this_! It was fluffy and silver with white at the tip, like it was dipped in bleach. But it wasn't the color that was weird, it was the fact it looked exactly like… I ran over to my egg's broken remains and found the most intact piece I could. It was light green with darker green spots. I felt my ears droop, which was not pleasant. _This can't be happening_…

I noticed a small pond a few yards away and thought I might as well get it over with. I padded over to the edge of it and looked down on the completely smooth surface. The mirror of water showed a face I knew I would see, the face of an Eevee. Not just and Eevee, but a shiny Eevee. I was the fucking Mary Sue of Mary Sue's. I sighed and just stared at my reflection.

_Of all the over-used, over-glorified concepts, I have to be a shiny Eevee?! Okay, okay… Breathe. I am a Pokémon… I am an Eevee. I am not going crazy, I am actually a fictional creature that I believed to be just that. There are up-sides to being a Pokémon. I can be cute… I can… I can… ugh, okay this is not working. Down sides? I'm small and defenseless and have no idea how to actually _**be**_ a Pokémon. I stand out like a peacock among pigeons. I have no idea where I am… This is not looking good. _

I allowed myself to mope for a couple of minutes, but no longer. I might as well try finding a person or a town or something to find out where I was. So I took the only path I could see, a small thing that would have been a deer path back home.

* * *

"Daniel, you're going to be in big trouble if you make your sister wait any longer!" Ugh, why couldn't she just wait a bit longer? I was already trying to hurry as it was.

"I'll be right there!" I shouted down the steps. I pulled my hat over my hopelessly messy, black hair and bounced into my jeans as I ran for the door. I nearly tripped over the box with my books in it, but I turned right before I could get caught. It had been three weeks since the move and I had still to unpack everything into my new room.

Out in the living room, my sister, Jenny, was waiting in her trademark black leather jacket and her skinny jeans. She had her blonde hair up in a ponytail today, which was weird considering she left it down so often.

"Hey, Dannyboy. Ready to go?" I smiled and hefted my backpack over my shoulder.

"You bet, Jen. I've got all I need for my trip." She took one glance at my bag and started laughing.

"How many books did you squirrel away now?" she said as she laughed. I blushed as red as a Tomato berry. She could never be fooled by my sad attempts at hiding my books.

"O-only three. I figured I could give them away when I'm done reading them and pick up new ones along the way." She smiled and relented.

"Fine, fine. It's not like they're hard covers. Just keep it down to three, okay?" I nodded and followed her out of our house, waving goodbye to our mom as we went. "Danny, you've gotta tell me. Which one are you going to choose?" I grinned at her excitement. I knew she would ask once we got out of the house.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," I teased her. She pouted at me, but I shoved her shoulder instead. She didn't go far considering she was taller than me by nearly a foot and a half, and older by more than a few years.

Out by her motorcycle, Jen's Absol was waiting patiently. Both the machine and the creature matched my sister perfectly. Zephyr was quiet and strong like her and the machine purred like a kitten before it took off like a rocket, a lot like my sister when she got a goal in her head. I pet Zephyr when she greeted me with her usual face washing.

"Hey Zephyr!" I greeted her as I tried to push her off. Jen didn't do anything but laugh at me until Zephyr relented. "It's good to see you too. Now, let's get going before we're late!" Jen hopped up onto her bike and I followed after she returned Zephyr to her Poké ball. She handed me the white helmet that I shoved over my beanie and strapped under my chin. Jen pulled her sleek red helmet over her ponytail and revved the engine a few times before taking off down the road like a speed demon.

* * *

_Think Reilly, how did you get yourself into this mess? How did this happen?_ Surprisingly, the thoughts going through my head were very calm. Here I was, running for my life and I was trying to deduce what had started it. Never mind I might be eaten or mauled, let's try and learn what I did to deserve this, shall we?

I had left the pond behind and went down the deer path. So far so good. I followed that for about thirty minutes, give or take, and found a clearing. In said clearing were other Pokémon, namely Wurmple and their cocoon evolutions. If I remembered right, Wurmple were a Hoenn Pokémon that showed up in Sinnoh, Johto and the White Forest as well. So, the only place I couldn't be was Kanto… and that wasn't even counting any of the side game regions…

I noticed a large group of Silcoon gathered near the base of a large tree. Seeing no other option, but to try and act natural, I approached them cautiously. Only one of them looked at me as I approached, so I assumed that it would be the only one to talk to me.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but can you tell me where I am?" I asked, using my voice for the first time. It felt strange, but at least it was still feminine.

"You're new around here," he said bluntly. I resisted the urge to be sarcastic.

"Yes, I am. I just hatched over by the pond down that way." I pointed down the path I came from. "I didn't see anyone around, so I went looking for someone to tell me where I was."

"You didn't see anyone?" he asked. "That's not right. There should have been a Wurmple nearby."

"Why?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"Your egg was abandoned. We found it in the bushes and decided to at least keep it safe until it hatched." That was very unexpected. I figured I had just been magicked here and left to hatch. I didn't quite expect to be an actual, growing egg… But it does explain all the darkness and boredom.

"Thank you," I finally replied. "But as to my first question? Can you tell me where I am?" He nodded, which was really more like shaking his body up and down.

"This is the Wurmple Woods. There's a couple human groupings north and south, but mostly it's just us and the Poochyena."

Poochyena, eh? That doesn't help much. I know they're rare, but they show up in Sinnoh as well as Johto and Unova. So I was pretty much back where I started. I thanked the Silcoon for his help and started across the clearing.

"Hey wait!" he shouted after me. "Where are you going?" I shrugged when I turned back to face him, which was a weird gesture considering I was now a quadruped.

"I don't know. Might as well explore around a bit, maybe find something to eat," I replied. My stomach was already grumbling at me to get a move on. The Silcoon gave me a weird look.

"Fine," he finally breathed. "But stay away from the humans. They'll only try to capture you with your bright colors."

"Thanks," I said to him. "I'll be sure to be careful." I left without a backwards glance. I already knew I would be targeted because I was a Shiny. Never mind that I was also an Eevee. Whatever happened between worlds, something went wrong to majorly fuck my life up. At least I wasn't dead, that was a silver lining… Heh, I made a pun.

So, for the next hour or so, I looked for something to eat that at least looked familiar. The game didn't really talk about poisonous berries very often, but now that I knew the whole world was real… there's no telling what was different. For all I knew, everything I knew about this world could be upside-down and backwards… But that Silcoon and the Wurmple pretty much looked like their game sprites, albeit a little more realistic. But I still retained a bit of the off proportions of an Eevee: large tail, ears and fluff. Maybe things just worked differently here.

I nearly ran into a small bush during my thoughts. Good thing my sense of smell alerted me to the fruit before my face made contact with one. I looked up at the emerald green leaves and was glad to find a bunch of fist-sized blue berries. I knew these from the game, they were Oran berries. Excitedly, I tried to gab one with my front paws, forgetting for a moment that I lacked thumbs. Luckily one of the large berries came off its stem easily. It was firmer than what I imagined it to be, more like an apple than a normal berry. When I bit into it, it tasted tart at first, but then sweet as I chewed, almost like a Sweetart candy. I couldn't help but think it almost tasted like artificial grape flavoring. But I liked it, so I ate another two before moving on.

So, then what? I walked along the small path for a while and observed all the flora and fauna around me. The Silcoon was right about this place being filled with just the Wurmple family, but I had yet to see any Poochyena. And I really wish I wouldn't have thought that, because Happenstance (what some people mistake for Karma or Fate) was often a real bitch.

The thought didn't even have time to finish itself before my ears detected a growling noise. I jolted out of my thoughts and felt them perk up on instinct. Sure enough, I had just walked into trouble. In front of me were three small Poochyena- small enough to where I could be taller than them –and two adult Mightyena. The adults were the ones growling, staring me down with their ruby red eyes. The three pups backed into one of the parents, alerted of the danger I certainly did not pose.

"Oh, I'm s-sorry, did I wander into your, um, your t-territory?" I stumbled over my words. They scared the crap out of me. I was sure that if they wanted to, they could easily eat me. The larger of the two Mightyena stepped forward and the fur on his back stood on end, making him appear much larger than what was necessary to scare me.

"Yes, you did," he told me, his voice much lower than what I thought possible for a voice to be. "I don't take kindly to trespassers walking in on me and my pups." I think I nearly shat myself.

"W-well, I'm t-terribly sorry. I-I-I'll just skedaddle on o-out of here n-now," I stuttered while trying not to trip over my paws backing up. The papa wolf's teeth showed in a feral grin.

"Oh, I think you'd better do more than skedaddle. I haven't hunted anything but Wurmple in the last few days. And you, little hatchling, look a fair sight better than a bug." He turned back to his pups and their mother. "Boys, Daddy's teaching you to hunt today!"

The three pups all jumped up at their father's words and started barking happily. I, on the other hand, felt each and every one of my muscles tighten in preparation to flee. I didn't even wait for the Mightyena to look at me again before I turned tail and sprinted straight through a bush.

"Ha-ha!" I heard the wolf bark behind me. "We've got a runner, boys!"

I heard the four sets of paws as they dived into the undergrowth after me. One large set followed by three smaller sets. At least they left Mama behind. I didn't think I could outrun three pups and one adult, let alone two. I didn't even think I could outrun the pups!

My heart hammered inside my chest as I ran, clogging my throat so I could hardly breathe. But there was something about running on all four legs that made things a bit easier, that is, if I didn't trip over my own paws first. I tried to keep my balance as often as I could, but the sticks and the rocks on the forest floor insisted on jumping in the way. Of course, after running for what felt like an hour (it was like five minutes) I tripped and fell flat on my face.

I tried to scramble to my feet, but something pinned my tail. I looked back and found the Mightyena grinning and holding me down with his paw. His claws dug into the bit of flesh I had hiding under the fluff and I squeaked in pain, mostly because it was the only noise I could make while so out of breath.

_I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. AGAIN!_ I had just gone through this! Hakuro had just killed me back on Earth! I was not going to let myself get killed again so soon. So I did the only thing I could think of. I turned to face the Mightyena and snapped at his nose.

It surprised him enough for me to pull my tail free, but he caught on too quickly. When I tried to dart away, but his paw stomped in front of my nose, halting whatever escape plan had momentarily run through my brain.

"Smart, for a hatchling at least," the Mightyena growled at me. "But not too smart." I tried jumping around his leg, but he shoved his other in the way, gouging my back, left haunch with his wicked sharp claws. I cried out, but he just laughed. His three pups had caught up to us. They were yipping and panting like this was another game to play.

"I wanna take her down, Papa," one of them said.

"No, me!" the second piped in. The third one seemed happy enough just to watch. The Mightyena laughed and shook his head.

"You'll get your chance boys. This one is mine." My heart felt like it was going to crawl out of my throat and run away without me. I could feel it hammer against my ribs like a construction worker with a jackhammer. Once again, through no will of my own, all of my muscles tensed and I leapt forward towards the escape of the bushes. My back leg nearly gave out as I shot myself forward, but it was just enough to disappear into the bushes.

The wolves whined behind me and Papa howled angrily. I kept running, despite the searing pain running up and down my leg. I had never given up without a fight, so why start now. If he wanted a hunt, I'd give him one. I turned right and left and a couple times backwards, to throw him off my trail as he tried to sniff me out. More than a couple times they found me and Papa gave me a scratch or two to add to the three deep gouges from the first time.

So I guess, that's why I was running for my life. All I did was walk in on a trio of pups and their parents! Screw the fact I tried to apologize and leave. Now I had one hungry daddy out for me and the blood trail I was leaving behind was like a neon sign pointing in my direction. Even _I_ could smell my blood through the haze of adrenaline and fear. Hell, I could smell my own _fear_. It smelled like rotten fruit and sweat… not pretty.

I was starting to feel dizzy, probably from the blood loss from my myriad of cuts and gouges. The leaves were all blending together and the trees were curving. Some spots were even turning white around the edges. The grass felt funny under my paws, like it had grown shorter and coarser. Actually, now it felt like dirt. Pebbles scattered underneath my paws as I ran… but why was I running again? My head hurt and I was so tired.

I heard the footsteps again, reminding me why I was in such a hurry. I had to get out of here! But wait, those weren't the sets of four that I was running from, they were a set of two! I just had enough time to register a large person with dark brown hair in a lab coat before everything went white and I hit the road like a sack of bricks.

* * *

"I can't believe I got a flat!" my sister yelled, kicking the deflated offender. The buckles on her boots jingled as she paced in circles. I sat against the back wheel, my nose in my book but my eyes following her behind my glasses.

"Shit happens, sis," I replied. She barked a laugh at my swear but continued to pace. "Que será, será."

"Don't go spouting your Spanish lessons at me. I was supposed to get you to Littleroot by tonight. Now we'll have to stay two nights in Petalburg and spend the day after tomorrow on the road. Professor Birch is going to be out of Pokémon by the time we get you there."

"Jen, relax. The police office said they'd send out a guy to pick us up and tow your bike the rest of the way to the city. We can walk to Littleroot if you're that worried."

"I can't just leave my bike!" she shouted at me. "Do you know how many tourneys I had to win to stock up the money for this thing?" I looked over the candy apple color of her sleek motorcycle. I knew it cost her a lot, but by now she should have won enough money to pay for it twice again.

"Eight?" I teased. She laughed in a way that said, 'not funny'.

"Ten actually. But that's not the point. I can't leave my baby in the hands of some cheapskate mechanic!" I rolled my eyes and returned to my book.

"We'll be fine. I'm pretty sure that making Professor Birch wait a couple days will be fine. I can phone him from wherever we stay in Petalburg." Jen huffed and sat next to me on the ground. She was never one to hang around in one place long, but that never bothered me. She was just being Jen.

"Whoever they send to pick us up will be here soon. You could go train Zephyr for a while. I'm not going anywhere without a Pokémon of my own." Jen waved her hand at me and just continued to sit, though she did let Zephyr out for cautionary purposes. She was stronger than most of the Pokémon here in the Petalburg Woods, but it didn't mean they wouldn't try something. The bug-types around here had a nasty habit of attacking when you were distracted. Zephyr laid between my sister and me and appeared to fall asleep, though I knew she was listening for any sounds of danger.

"What are you reading now?" Jen asked out of the blue. I showed her the front cover.

"_The Famine Battles_," I said. "It's about a future world where kids and their Pokémon have to fight in televised battles to the death in order to appease a sadistic and tyrannical government that took over decades ago after nuclear war. It's really intense." Jen started laughing.

"That's crazy. Who would make kids fight to the death?" I shrugged and flipped the page.

"It's fiction. You can make anything happen in fiction." Jen snorted, one of her less pretty qualities.

"Yeah, yeah. Just make sure you don't get sucked in, all right? You're going traveling around Hoenn. I know mum doesn't care whether you just travel or you have a goal in mind, but you need to know when it's time to put the books away."

"Jen, I told you already. I'm going to be traveling just to travel. If I challenge anything, it'll be because I want to, not because I'm aiming to be the best. I don't need to prove myself like you do."

"Hey!" she shouted, slapping me upside the head as I laughed. "I do not need to prove myself. Zephyr and I just happen to like kicking everyone else's ass."

"Whatever you say, sis. Whatever you say."

* * *

**Welcome to the end of chapter two! Now you've officially met Daniel and his sister Jenny. What do you think so far? Is it good? Awful? Too clishe-clich-cleesh, whatever. Is it good or what?! Please tell me! Any help with grammar and spelling mistakes would be greatly appreciated! ~Sylva**


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